Bye Bye Lippert Electric Stabilizer Jacks !

[Glendale_290]

Well after 15 months of owning our 2013 trailer and having lots of fun and headaches with the made in China Lippert Electric Jacks that take forever to crank up and down with the ultra slow 12V motor......they were removed yesterday and replaced with made in the USA Bal Stabilizer Scissor Jacks. Wow what a difference! They actually stabilize the trailer. To replace the Lippert assembly and motor was going to be well north of $500. US plus shipping and brokerage fees. Bought two sets of jacks and drill adapter for under $200. US. The new jacks fit perfectly on the brackets that were on the trailer that held the old system. Hopefully the electric tongue jack holds up till next year when we will replace with a Barker 3500. All great lessons learned for our next new trailer purchase!

Lou

[Huntindog]

tll wrote:
I did a little investigation into the side to side motion problem with the Lippert electric stabilizing jacks. For the self adjusting part to adjust to uneven ground, the jack carriage has to slide back and forth. After the jacks are down and under pressure, movement in the trailer causes the trailer to rock back and forth on the carriage. Stopping this movement should solve the problem. I believe a set of JT Strongarms or similar might do the trick. I think I will order a set of the BAL brand ones to put on the rear jacks and see how it works. See the video attached. The jacks are under pressure, and my daughter is aggressively stepping on and off the rear steps. It is the trailer that is moving, not the screw jack assemblies.
Lippert jack movement

[brulaz]

tll wrote:
I did a little investigation into the side to side motion problem with the Lippert electric stabilizing jacks. For the self adjusting part to adjust to uneven ground, the jack carriage has to slide back and forth. After the jacks are down and under pressure, movement in the trailer causes the trailer to rock back and forth on the carriage. Stopping this movement should solve the problem. I believe a set of JT Strongarms or similar might do the trick. I think I will order a set of the BAL brand ones to put on the rear jacks and see how it works. See the video attached. The jacks are under pressure, and my daughter is aggressively stepping on and off the rear steps. It is the trailer that is moving, not the screw jack assemblies.
Lippert jack movement

Please report back how those work out.
I'm interested in trying them myself.

[tll]

I did a little investigation into the side to side motion problem with the Lippert electric stabilizing jacks. For the self adjusting part to adjust to uneven ground, the jack carriage has to slide back and forth. After the jacks are down and under pressure, movement in the trailer causes the trailer to rock back and forth on the carriage. Stopping this movement should solve the problem. I believe a set of JT Strongarms or similar might do the trick. I think I will order a set of the BAL brand ones to put on the rear jacks and see how it works. See the video attached. The jacks are under pressure, and my daughter is aggressively stepping on and off the rear steps. It is the trailer that is moving, not the screw jack assemblies.
Lippert jack movement

[brulaz]

I strengthened mine with lengths of 2x2x1/8" steel bolted to the arms, so I could really tighten them up without permanently kinking the arms. That reduced the up/down motion a lot.

Front-to-back is reduced with home-made between wheel chocks.

Side-to-side motion is reduced by jacks under the stairs. But Strongarm stabilizers might be in the future.

[BillB800si]

Our old 2007 Jayco had manual stabilizers. our newer 2014 Cougar had electrics. Manuals are much more stabile than electrics. Only problem we found with manuals is sometimes the jacks are mounted under a slide and it's difficult to access the stabilizer unless your down on your hands & knees.
Did notice some of the new model trailers are going back to manuals.
Having said that I would NEVER go back to a manual hitch tongue jack!!

Happy trails,

[mbopp]

tll wrote:
I am not really happy with mine either. They have not failed, and they do support the front and back of the trailer, but they sure don't stabilize it much. Very disappointed in them. I have been trying to troubleshoot why they don't stabilize the trailer and it appears the carriage that holds the jacks and screw system slides back and forth on the mounting brackets causing the trailer to move. I have cranked the jacks down harder and harder, and it does no good. My wife keeps talking about getting sea-sick whenever someone moves:)

My sentiments exactly. My thought is to add a stabilizer jack to each side of the TT near the axles.

[Community Alumni]

I guess it depends upon the unit that the jacks are installed on, mine are fine. For me personally just pushing a button in the front and another in the rear is pretty simple.

[Tequila]

A cordless drill works best

[Biggyniner]

Since apparently Lippert makes many of the slideouts, how are there quality overall?

Chris

[deltabravo]

crickeydog wrote:
I guess that's (Lippert) what we have on the rear of our 5'er. .... Whatever brand they are they've worked fine for close to 11 years now and stabilize our 5'er just fine.

The might be another brand. I think LCI (Lippert) is relatively new at selling stabilizer jacks.

[mrkoje]

Are you referring to an electric leveling system? I really would love one of those but not if they suck I suppose.

[Huntindog]

Anyone that wants to send me their old junkers,,,, I'll take em.

[crickeydog]

I guess that's (Lippert) what we have on the rear of our 5'er. I don't think I've ever really looked at'em. I just mash the button and they go down...and up!!! Whatever brand they are they've worked fine for close to 11 years now and stabilize our 5'er just fine.

Happy camping!!! See y'all down the road!!!:)

[tll]

I am not really happy with mine either. They have not failed, and they do support the front and back of the trailer, but they sure don't stabilize it much. Very disappointed in them. I have been trying to troubleshoot why they don't stabilize the trailer and it appears the carriage that holds the jacks and screw system slides back and forth on the mounting brackets causing the trailer to move. I have cranked the jacks down harder and harder, and it does no good. My wife keeps talking about getting sea-sick whenever someone moves:)